GIWS is a 50/50 joint venture company formed by Diehl Defence and Rheinmetall Weapons and Munitions to design, develop, and manufacture the SMArt155 artillery projectile.

Cutaway of a SMArt155 artillery projectile showing the two sub-munitions with their EFP warhead, designed to penetrate the vulnerable upper surfaces of AFVs. (GIWS)

More than 12,000 SMArt 155 artillery projectiles were manufactured for Germany and Switzerland, followed by Australia and Greece with final deliveries in 2006.

The Phase 1 contract was awarded in December 2017 and runs to June 2019; it aims to source the elements that are required to initiate production again. The next phases are to update and re-qualify the production lines.

Serial production is planned from 2024, and new rounds will be identical in form, fit, and function to the currently deployed rounds.

There will be parallel studies that are expected to explore new payloads to engage a wider range of target types. It will also be insensitive munition (IM) compliant.

SMArt 155 can be fired from towed and self-propelled (SP) 155 mm artillery systems using a modular charge system (MCS) or an older bag charge type propellant system.

The thinned-walled carrier projectile contains the expulsion unit and the two submunitions.

Each of the two top attack munitions has a heavy metal explosively formed penetrator (EFP) warhead and a multi-mode nose-mounted sensor that includes infrared (IR), millimeter wave (mmW) radar, and mmW radiometer sensors.

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